Thursday 09/12/10 Lennon Remembered @ Echo Arena, Liverpool

A diverse audience nearly filled Liverpool’s Echo Arena the night after the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. School children, who could not have understood the significance of the event, accompanied their baby-boomer parents. Twenty-somethings sat together, nostalgic for a time they never knew.  Many of John Lennon’s contemporaries made it out to the dockside venue as well, paying their respects to one of Liverpool’s favorite sons. Each generational group and type of fan extrapolated something different from the way Lennon’s life and work was interpreted throughout the three-hour event.

The Cavern Club’s Bill Heckle co-organized the night as a memorial to honor the spirit of the late Beatle and illustrate the “nine faces of John Lennon.” As such, the aim was to represent these phases of Lennon’s life through those who experienced it firsthand. To continue his message of peace and love, profits from the show will benefit local charities including Alder Hey Imagine Appeal, Radio City’s Cash For Kids, and the Mathew Street Festival.

Younger audience members and casual fans loved seeing dozens of children from Dovedale Primary School (attended by Lennon and George Harrison) sing backing vocals to ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over).’ They clapped and sang along with versions of ‘If I Fell, ‘I Should Have Known Better,’ and ‘Norwegian Wood’ performed by the musicians of the forthcoming American musical, The Sessions. They shouted requests at performers and danced to the tunes of ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘Instant Karma.’

Those more historically minded (and those who were actually around in the early 1960s!) seemed to appreciate the night’s blast-from-the-past moments. Members of The Quarrymen, Lennon’s first skiffle group, performed renditions of Merseyside staples like ‘Rock Island Line’ and ‘Maggie May.’ Tony Sheridan, who played with The Beatles during their Hamburg days, flew in from Germany to do a rollicking version of ‘My Bonnie.’ Tony Bramwell, a friend of The Beatles and their eventual road manager, shared recollections of his time with Lennon. Other musical guests included Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland, drummer Alan White (who played on a number of Lennon’s solo hits), and sound engineer Dennis Ferrante.

Curious, however, was the decision to include a full 90 minutes of local actor Mark McGann’s Lennon impersonation, which was taken from the Olivier Award winning stage show John Lennon—In My Life. In the production, McGann chronicles Lennon’s troubled life through songs and recitations of Lennon quotations. With no slight to McGann, who mimicked Lennon’s accent eerily well and hit all of the right notes with great expression, the play’s complicated, oft scandalous historicizing did not seem congruent with the message of the rest of the event. The quotation selections recounted Lennon’s insecurities, infidelities, and sexual escapades, and his brutal, senseless murder was replicated with sudden darkness and four cracks on the snare drum. Portions simply seemed contrary to Lennon’s pacifistic and idealistic legacy.

The set closed with optimism, as all of the speakers and performers gathered on stage to sing ‘Come Together’ and ‘Give Peace a Chance.’ Throughout the night, Lennon Remembered elicited a range of strong emotions among audience members. Regardless of which aspects of the program resonated personally, it’s clear that the strength and message of John Lennon’s music still unites people, 30 years later.

John Lennon: Quotes